Do you need a coffee grinder to grind them or can you just throw them in your blender with your protein shake to grind them?

It's going to depend on your blender. Maybe something like a Vita-Mix or even a Bullet might work. You'd have to grind them first before adding anything else for it to work. A coffee grinder does work great though.

It's going to depend on your blender. Maybe something like a Vita-Mix or even a Bullet might work. You'd have to grind them first before adding anything else for it to work. A coffee grinder does work great though.

CONCLUSION: In summary, ingestion of flax oil and milled flaxseed delivered significant levels of ALA to the plasma whereas whole flaxseed did not. Whole seed and oil preparations induced adverse gastrointestinal effects within 4 weeks and these were severe enough to induce the withdrawal of some subjects from these two groups. No one withdrew from the group that ingested milled flaxseed and, therefore, may represent a good form of flaxseed to avoid serious side-effects and still provide significant increases in ALA to the body.

They're not that oily. They should pulverize into a sawdust consistency ~ then stop grinding. No problem adding to a smoothie if the fibery texture isn't bothersome.

I sometimes add oatmeal to my shakes. I used to grind it, but found it of little benefit, so I now just add it straight from the container. It's tolerable, so I didn't figure whole flax seeds would be an issue.

CONCLUSION: In summary, ingestion of flax oil and milled flaxseed delivered significant levels of ALA to the plasma whereas whole flaxseed did not. Whole seed and oil preparations induced adverse gastrointestinal effects within 4 weeks and these were severe enough to induce the withdrawal of some subjects from these two groups. No one withdrew from the group that ingested milled flaxseed and, therefore, may represent a good form of flaxseed to avoid serious side-effects and still provide significant increases in ALA to the body.